Holy cap hat-man!

Never short of protection from the sun, Bernie Bettridge is the father of all orphaned caps in Queensland. (ABC Multiplatform:Laura Hegarty)

Clermont's 82-year-old Bernie Bettridge started collecting caps a decade ago and now more than 2,000 surround his house.

The problem is, he doesn't even like them.

"I never wear them. I just pick them up and hang them up... now they're a near nuisance!"

Bernie says he much prefers sheltering from the sun under his old broad brimmed hat.

He can't say why he started collecting caps at all.

"I started off picking them up because my old mate had a job at the dump and during the day I used to pick up metal and other scrap stuff and I started picking these caps up."

So far he has no two the same.

"They're from everywhere, this one is from the New York Police Department but I don't know how it got to Clermont."

It's hard for Bernie to pick just one favourite, but he likes his caps to be multi-purpose.

"I have got one that you can put a beer can on each side and put a hose into it."

He's running out of room to hang his caps, but collecting them has become a compulsion.

"I'm going to pull the bloody things down because when I switch the lights on in the morning I can't see... there are too many of them. I don't know what to do with them but I don't like throwing them away.

"I think it's sort of got me. If I see one laying on the side of the road I have to stop and pick it up... not that I really want it."